


Mortal

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 08:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7794367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jess shows Katja her family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mortal

Blending into the shadows was something that Jess was very good at, being the Dark Princess and all. Her coloration had also helped her with that, back when she’d been just a siren. Now, though, she was doing it not to stake out prey but for very personal reasons.

“Hello, sister.” Jess sighed and frowned, turning to glare at the one who had spoken. Katja simply smiled at her. “You know that your eyes glow like a cat’s in the dark, don’t you?”

“You glow in the dark anyway,” said Jess. Katja huffed and swept a hand through her white hair. 

“So? Anyway, what are you doing?”

“That’s none of your business,” said Jess, turning back to look at the ferry that was getting ready to leave.

“Hmm. Oh.” Katja grinned at her. “You’re sneaking out.”

“You’re not the only one who can sneak out, you know,” said Jess. “Though I can be more inconspicuous about it. Or I could if you weren’t here talking to me.”

“What are you sneaking out for, anyway?” asked Katja. “You don’t have anyone on land.”

“That’s what you think,” said Jess, smirking at her.

“Well, you’re very good at keeping them a secret, then,” said Katja.

“Ha, ‘them’,” said Jess, and giggled. Katja had no idea just how accurate she was.

“What? Do you have a harem or something?” asked Katja.

“No,” said Jess, the very thought stopping her laughter. “Well, I suppose that I can tell you. Just promise not to tell anyone else, though they’re probably safe because they’re all perfectly mortal, but…” She’d started running her hands along her ponytail but then stopped, balling them into fists instead.

“Oh.” Katja understood straight away, seeing how she was acting. The knowledge brought out her gentler side.

“Come with me and I’ll show you, if you want,” said Jess. “But if it’s too much for you…”

“No, I’ll come,” said Katja. “Just… wow. All that time you were coming to my defense, I had no idea that you were speaking from experience.”

“It’s nothing like you, though,” said Jess. “He’s mortal, and when he dies he won’t be reborn in another body. He’s older now.”

“Now? Just how long have you been with him?” asked Katja.

“Half a century, give or take a few years,” said Jess. “We met when he was young. I was washed up on shore, and he took me into his house and gave me somewhere to rest and heal after a stupid tree broke my ankle.”

“Wow, you wasted no time,” said Katja. Jess growled and poked her.

“It wasn’t like that,” said Jess. “It was a few years later that we- shoot, the ferry’s leaving, let’s go.”

The two of them darted onto the ferry, hiding near the engine room so that the sound of it would drown out their voices. On the way there, Jessica told Katja about the night that she’d been found on the shore by a kind human who hadn’t been afraid, not even knowing what she was. What she really was.

At last, the ferry pulled up at a beach and Jess darted across the sand with her sister, hiding behind the herd of stampeding, frightened ponies, and then jumped onto the black Welsh and whispered to him where she wanted to go.

“Gee, thanks for waiting for me,” said Katja, sliding off the light grey Welsh that she’d taken once she finally got to the cottage. The mare nuzzled her temporary rider and then took off again, rejoining the herd once more.

“Well, you got here, didn’t you?” said Jess. “And we were unseen too.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” At the sound of the male voice, Jess broke into a grin that Katja would recognise anywhere and ran to hug the old man who had just emerged from the house. Despite her eagerness, she hugged and kissed him gently. 

“I brought someone with me this time,” said Jess, turning to look at her sister standing awkwardly near the light grey mare who had returned.

“Oh, well knock me down with a feather. Is she a siren too?” asked the hermit.

“Yes, she’s exactly like me,” said Jess. “Complete with having a human lover. Though her story is significantly more tragic.”

“That’s an understatement,” said Katja. 

“I’ll say,” said the hermit, chuckling. “Your sister has told her great granddaughter all about you.”

“You did what?” Katja hissed. “You said you wouldn’t tell anyone, Jess.” She didn’t look angry though, just sad.

“Sorry, I was playing with Madison and it just came out,” said Jess. “I’m really sorry, sis. But I only told her that once upon a time, a Soul Rider and a General fell in love.”

“Madison did give them a happy ending, though, if it makes you feel any better,” said the hermit. “They even got married, as far as I recall.”

“That’s nice. But weird,” said Katja. “I don’t suppose that-“

“Grandpa!” a young voice called, accompanied by the pounding of hooves. The horses ran into the little area, surging like the tide, before continuing onto the beach and then galloping across the sand. They left a little girl in their wake. “Grandpa, there was a ferry here and it frightened the horses and then left when these guys saw me and who is this?”

“Well, this is awkward,” said Jess, and laughed. “Maddi, you remember the General I was telling you about?”

“Is this her?” asked Madison, clutching her hands together happily. “Oh, yay! But where’s her Soul Rider?”

“She’s out doing her own thing,” said Katja. 

“Maddi, sweetie, it was a forbidden romance, remember?” asked Jess.

“Oh, yeah! I still don’t like that ending,” said Madison, and pouted. “But this is so cool! Are you a sea person like grandma?” Katja laughed at the title, though Jess didn’t seem to mind too much.

“Yes, I am,” said Katja.

“Cool! Hey, you look more like a grandma than my actual grandma. Though, she’s my great grandma but that’s too much to say so I just call her grandma,” said Madison, pointing to Katja’s white hair. Now Jess laughed at her while Katja blushed.

“I’m actually younger than her,” said Katja. “But I guess I’m your, um… great aunt? Is that right?”

“I’m just gonna call you my aunt,” said Madison with a shrug. “But this is really cool! Can you really speak dolphin? Did you really have a son with tentacles for legs?”

“Who told you that?” asked Jess.

“It was in a book,” said Madison happily. “Ships crash here all the time, and once I was looking in the remains of one even though dad told me not to and I found this book with all these stories in it. They were cool stories.” She nodded, evidently approving of them.

“I thought that they were just stories,” said the hermit. “But maybe they aren’t.”

“Where is this book?” asked Katja.

“And what other stories were in it?” asked Jess.

“Oh, well there was this boring one about a ceremony, and then this sad one about a girl who was so powerful that she turned evil and so the druids had to lock her away,” said Madison. She paused to think, humming thoughtfully.

“Well, knock me down with a feather. The Lost Book of Ceremonies,” said the hermit. “In the hands of a child.”

“It can stay there,” said Katja. “Madison, don’t tell anyone else about this book, okay?”

“Okay. Why not?” asked Madison.

“Well, because if you do, the bad guys will come and take it away from you,” said Jess. “Remember the bad guys in that story I told you?”

“Yes. They separated the General and the Soul Rider. Wait!” She looked at Katja, suddenly realising. “You’re the General!”

“Yes, I thought you knew that,” said Katja. This girl was strange. 

“So then it must have ended happily if you’re still alive,” said Madison, jumping up and down.

“No, that ending was the real one. When we die, we revive,” said Jess.

“Aww. Those druids and Garnok guys are mean,” said Madison, pouting. Katja laughed, though her eyes glimmered with tears.

“Yeah, they are,” said Katja. “That’s why you have to hide the book, Madison. Keep it somewhere safe so that the druids and other bad guys never find it. Don’t even let my Soul Rider find it, because she has to give the book to the druids if she does find it.”

“I’ll keep it safe here,” said Madison. “And you can come and read it anytime you want.”

“How did you know that I wanted to read it?” asked Katja.

“She has some mind-reading abilities,” said Jess, smiling with a hint of pride. “Her father can hear the sound of time, her grandfather can speak to the sea, and she can read minds sometimes.”

“Dad and Nana Sigrid think that we’re crazy or lying,” said Madison. “But we know the truth.”

“Mortals, huh?” said Jess. “Some of them can be so blind.”

“But not this one,” said the hermit, and kissed her.

“No, not this one,” said Jess, and giggled. 

Katja felt only slightly jealous, or so she told herself, before a pair of little arms suddenly wrapped around her tightly.

“You needed a hug,” said Madison, her cheek pressed firmly into Katja’s stomach. “Don’t worry, Auntie Kitty, you’ll get your Soul Rider one day. And then you can live happily ever after.”

“And how do you know?” asked Katja.

“Because every story has a happy ending,” said Madison with firm belief in what she was saying. Katja looked over at her sister again and smiled at her obvious happiness. Maybe they’d have a happy ending too. There were immortality spells, so Jessica could turn the hermit into an immortal…

“And then he truly can be a wizard!” said Madison. Katja was surprised for a moment, then laughed at herself. She would have to remember to shield her thoughts whenever she came here.


End file.
